


When You Look At Me That Way; Five Questions Patty Didn't Say No To

by FakePlastikTrees



Category: Damages
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-10
Updated: 2012-07-10
Packaged: 2017-11-09 14:10:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/456361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FakePlastikTrees/pseuds/FakePlastikTrees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's in the title. Just a closer look at Patty and Ellen as a relationship develops behind closed doors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When You Look At Me That Way; Five Questions Patty Didn't Say No To

**Track 1: Love in an elevator**

Patty's eyes dart up. The act of breathing then becomes a rather elaborate accomplishment-one that merits an award of some sort-as the elevator begins to descend and the approaching figure before her becomes more and more of a predator with every agitated intake of breath. She grinds her teeth, relying heavily on the last of her self control to keep from moving. She leans back against the wall, lifts her chin, and smirks audaciously as a well manicured hand lands with a smooth slide against the wooden panel beside her head, and piercing brown eyes devour her boldly. And it all began with one question patty couldn't answer.

"Can I kiss you?"

Ellen likes to stretch everything out until the very last excruciating second. However, Patty doesn't have much patience for that these days. Especially, when her young lover hovers so closely to her lips the way she's doing now, "Well?" she asks with irritation.

Ellen smiles, "Well, what?"

"There is a state of limitations to everything, Ellen."

"Is there?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Okay."

Finally, she kisses her. Feather-light and not enough. A taunting tip of a pink tongue grazes another and someone sighs, bodies apart the entire time but inching closer, until the elevator signals its approaching stop at their designated floor and Ellen swiftly pulls away with a lick of her lips and an all too charismatic, all too smug of a grin that Patty can't help but glare at.

The blonde clears her throat, pushes her weight off the wall and breezes past the taller woman, hastily sliding her hand across the brunette’s lower back in passing.

Ellen smiles in her lover’s wake, basks in the lingering flutter the simple touch creates, then proceeds to follow.

**Track 2: I told you that we could fly**

"Is this too minty?"

Patty looks up from an open manila folder, glasses perched at the tip of her nose, and glances at the frosting covered wooden spoon in front of her.

Home made frosting can only be about eight hundred types of unhealthy, but Ellen's been on a baking spree, and Patty fears that if she declines her this taste test, there will be a silent treatment that will last several hours. So, reluctantly, and with an intellectually open palate, she leans over the rest of the way across the counter top and licks the sweet-and just a little bit too _minty_ -topping off the spoon.

She licks her lips clean as she sits back, more than aware of Ellen's anticipating stare, she's careful to reply, "Mint-isn't for everyone…" She manages as warmly as possible, which apparently, is not warm enough because Ellen looks scandalized.

"What?" she asks, her brow furrowed in indescribable perplexity and confusion. Her frosting is always flawless. Sure, she experimented with a couple of extra ingredients this time, but still. She brings the spoon to her mouth, licks off a fair amount and lets it swirl against her taste buds. Before she can vocally express her displeasure for Patty's painfully incorrect assessment, she finds herself in the midst of a terribly good idea.

Patty's already back to ignoring her when Ellen begins to round the counter over to the other side, "Maybe you didn't get a good enough taste," She offers amiably, slowly swinging the spoon back and forth in the air, while Patty scribbles something down.

"Mint and sweet don't really do much for me as a combined-treat."

"Well-" She replies, pushing Patty's paperwork aside, not bothering with a warning or apology, letting her body follow. She glides between the edge of the counter and Patty's knees. Patty, who looks up through her glasses, ready to scold her, until the brunette runs the wooden spoon over the swell of her own breast, a fair amount of skin revealed by a controversially low cut top she's been sporting all day, "-maybe you didn't get a good enough taste," She insists, rendering Patty speechless.

"Maybe I didn't," Patty replies dryly when she finds enough sound in her throat to speak, tossing her pen onto the counter with a newly adopted forgetfulness of her former task.

"Or-" Ellen continues, pressing the edge of the wooden spoon against the underside of the blonde's ear, dragging it diagonally in a sticky track, halting at the base of her collar bone. She then leans in; her breath tickling Patty's suddenly heated skin when she says, "-maybe _I_ need a taste."

"Oh-" Patty sighs and licks her lips, her voice barely audible when she speaks next, "-I want to taste again."

**Track 3: Feels like you're dying**

"Do you like this?" Ellen asks, panting, her arms aching, her palms numb as they grip the edge of the headboard, holding most of her weight while her hips slam once more against Patty, who utters a breathless, "Yes," sprawled on the bed, writhing beneath her.

Her eyes roll to the back of her head and she moans when Ellen rolls her hips slowly in contrast, and the young- _usually collected_ -attorney, has to raise her head and offer a silent prayer to god to keep her from coming embarrassingly too soon. She hears Patty grunt and wonders if the dildo feels as good inside her as Ellen feels fucking her. Smiling devilishly, she thrusts forward, hard, and Patty grunts again, staring up at the young woman with a smoldering glare.

"Harder?" Ellen asks.

"Yes."

She obliges, glad to know Patty isn't really in the mood for nice and easy anymore.

She pulls her hips back slowly, and then slams back against her.

Patty gasps and begins to pant. "Harder," She Ellen her sternly.

There is a particular look in Patty's eyes every time Ellen's hip drive forward. She bites her lip, smiles, and finally, her mouth drops open, her neck arches, and soft grunts and moans fill the silence in the room with every thrust of Ellen’s hips.

With a particularly strong burst of ego, Ellen manages a harder push and Patty cries out, looking up, wide eyed, in surprise and Ellen smiles at that, while Patty's hands grip her hips tighter.

"Come here," Patty beckons, sighing when the phallus shifts inside her as Ellen brings her arms down to anchor her weight on her elbows. Skin meets skin from waist to breasts, torsos pressed tightly together as they meet in a kiss that Ellen can't seem to want to free herself from. After a few blissful moments, she lifts her weight off of Patty again, this time settling her hands flat on the mattress, with enough leverage to hit that same spot from earlier, angling her hips just so. She catches Patty just as the blonde's eyes are closing.

"Patty, look at me, don't close your eyes…" Ellen says firmly, offering a small smile when blue eyes flutter open again. When Patty returns the wicked little smirk, Ellen feels the telltale signs of an orgasm creep up in her belly and she groans, falling securely into the blonde's arms, then buries her face in her shoulder, cursing against heated flesh, "Fuck…"

Patty's reply is a whimpering moan when she wraps both legs around the younger woman's waist and continues meeting every shift and pull of her hips, "Oh god."

Ellen comes before Patty and when they're done, she asks in between kisses, "Can we do that again?"

Laughing breathlessly, Patty says, "Yes."

**Track 4: There's an army on the dance floor**

Patty is beginning to wonder why she agreed to this ridiculous engagement in the first place. She's in a five hundred dollar dress, while the rest of the party is in casual wear at best.

She's sat at the bar, where she's been sitting for the past twenty five minutes. A glass of bourbon sits in her hand. She's on her second glass. And a headache is slowly growing with the help of an especially rowdy exclamation of excitement out on the dance floor.

The groom has pulled his tie off and is swinging it around in the air like a lasso, the bride has hiked her gown up to mid calf and Ellen is sandwiched between them both in the middle of some lewd, offensive song that apparently requires bumping and grinding.

Laughing, Ellen meets her gaze from afar and Patty toasts her glass in her direction. As if being summoned, Ellen quickly joins her. Unlike the other attendees, Patty is particularly taken by Ellen's attire. Although, it might have a lot more to do with Ellen herself, than the actual outfit.

It doesn't matter. Patty smiles at the smiling woman approaching her.

Her face is flushed and the spring in her step has a lot to do with the large amounts of alcohol she's consumed throughout the evening. "Oh my god!" She exhales, coming up to stand beside Patty's seat at the bar. She brushes her hair behind her ear and sighs, shaking her head, "I had forgotten how crazy those guys are."

"Yeah," Patty nods, allowing Ellen her glass to steal a sip. She looks happy, Patty notes. Exhilarated even. Kind of post-coital, actually. Like the past year has not happened and she hasn't been through hell and back just to stand here, having a drink. This causes a pang of guilt and jealousy within the older woman, because she could never give her this. This-normalcy, this simple happiness of just being, because she's largely responsible for the most unhappy moments in her life to begin with.

As the night has progressed, she's been experiencing a strange sense of unease. Everyone Ellen knows seems to be in their early thirties. And with that, comes the obvious wonder of 'what the hell is Ellen's boss doing here and where is that handsome coworker they've all heard she's been seeing?'

Patty wondered the same thing for a perplexing amount of time. Until Janie and Lena happened, that is.

"Did you meet Janie and Lena yet?" Ellen asks, her gaze drifting towards the dance floor. Patty's glass goes to her lips, not drinking but simply holding the rim against her mouth.

"I did," Patty nods.

"Aren't they great together? I'm so happy for them."

"Yea," Patty says, "They're great."

Janie and Lena are Ellen's friends. Ellen's lesbian friends, who are a couple. And Patty is under the sneaking suspicion that Ellen's trying to tell her something. Because Janie happens to be a few years older than Lena.

"You can't even tell they're years apart. It's great." Ellen says 'YEARS' like it is the most unbelievable achievement.

Patty feigns surprise and replies, "Yeah, all of five years of an age difference."

"They've really made it, you know? I'm very happy for them."

"Ellen, am I supposed to be your date tonight?"

The look on Ellen's face is comical at best. She looks absolutely flabbergasted.

Patty finds this amusing, "Because, Ellen, I have to tell you, men of my age are not taken very seriously when they take on with a young protégé."

The brunette chuckles and leans in closely when she replies, once the initial shock of being caught with her hand in the cookie jar wears off, "But you're _Patty Hewes_. Patty Hewes is never ridiculed."

Patty shrugs, well aware of Ellen's mindset when she speaks to her in that particularly dark tone of voice, "Well, yes, that's true."

"If anything, it will kick start a brand new reputation for you."

It's Patty's turn to snort, "Oh, really?"

"Mmhmm-" Ellen nods, scooting just a little closer, "-Patty Hewes, lady killer."

"That-would have a slightly different connotation coming after my name, to be honest."

Holding back a chortle for the sake of getting what she wants, Ellen replies slowly, "Well, how's this for a Page 6 headline? Ellen Parsons: Lover of Patty Hewes; thoroughly sexually satisfied and doesn't give a shit about what anybody thinks about them."

Immediately turned on by the prospect of drunken, sloppy sex in the backseat of her car-currently parked outside-Patty clears her throat and retorts, "And another way of saying that would be…"

Barely able to choke back a giggle now, Ellen replies, "Will you go steady with me?"

Patty rolls her eyes, but can't help the smile that appears on her face, "Shut up," She says, and takes her glass back with a shrug.

Watching her profile closely and with a smirk that she blames on the bourbon, Ellen then tries again, this time she's a little more serious, and a lot more nervous, "Patty, you are my date tonight.” She glares at the other woman's bemused smile, "Oh, shut up."

"I'm your date," Patty assures her quickly, if only to stop the drunken display of angst that is bound to follow otherwise.

Ellen shrugs offhandedly, "Fine."

"What am I supposed to do-as your date?"

Ellen thinks about this for a second. She needs to get this right, "Well," She steps even closer, until she's pressed up against Patty's side. The blonde makes no attempt to get off her seat, when Ellen snakes an arm across her abdomen to wrap around her waist, "I do this, for one.” Ellen says, “No big deal, because you're my date. And nobody cares."

"Mmm." Patty nods, her stomach annoyingly knotting up at instant contact.

"And I can lean in really close like this-" She does just that, her chest now flush against Patty's shoulder, whispering when she continues, "-like we're sharing a private moment-" She stops and glances down briefly, taking in a deep breath, "-I can see your cleavage from here."

Patty's eyes turn up slightly and she feels her cheeks grow quickly hot, "Are you trying to seduce me now?"

"No, I don't have to-" Ellen replies smugly with a shake of her head before adding almost uncontrollably, "-do you want to-"

"-Yes-"

"-go to your car?"

"YES."

**Track 5: Linger on your pale blue eyes**

Patty jerks awake from a blood freezing nightmare. She's gripping her pillow and her body has been rendered still by the shock. She can't recall details, but she knows it was something strange. Her heart is beating erratically and she's almost afraid to move. She licks her lips, tries to bring her breathing back to a normal rate, and jumps a little at a cool hand that brushes her hair out of her forehead.

"Shh-" Ellen says soothingly, scooting a little closer to Patty as they lay face to face in the older woman's darkened bedroom, "-it's me. It's okay."

It's difficult to relax at first. Patty isn't too used to waking up from one of these dreams to someone's calming caress, especially Ellen's. As her eyes adjust to the dim light and she begins to make out the young woman’s worried stare, she realizes that she fell asleep before she could say goodnight to her.

Ellen is only half dressed. A skirt, a white silk camisole, and stockings. Patty had fallen into a deep sleep soon after her second orgasm and when Ellen returned from the bathroom after grabbing a quick shower, the blonde was dead to the world. In the midst of dressing, however, Patty began to stir and Ellen did the only thing she could think of.

"I fell asleep," Patty says groggily, breathing in deeply and exhaling, allowing Ellen's touch to soothe the tension away.

Ellen smiles and begins to comb her fingers through soft, blonde hair, "Yeah, you did."

"-sorry. You tired me out."

Ellen chuckles, resisting the urge to lean over and kiss the worry from the other woman's brow, "It's okay. You'll make it up to me later."

"What time is it?" Patty asks, shifting a little but stopping once her body refuses to move.

Ellen places a stilling hand on her shoulder and answers, "Around one AM. What were you dreaming about?"

"I'm not sure."

"Do you-have these dreams often?"

"-sometimes," Patty answers uneasily. She isn't used to talking about the dreams and she's not sure she's in any state to start. However, she does feel better and her breathing seems to be returning to normal.

Ellen wrecks her brain wondering how to ask what she wants to ask, knowing fully well she won't sleep tonight knowing she left Patty this way. She scoots a little closer until their eyes are leveled and she smiles at a darker shade of blue staring back at her, "Can I spend the night?"

With hesitation, Patty answers quietly, "Yes."

Ellen’s smile broadens as she sighs and asks, "Do you want me to get you some water? Anything?"

Patty manages a smirk and assures her, "I'm fine."

This time, Ellen does indulge and leans forward to press her lips to the blonde's forehead, then to her lips, cradling her cheek momentarily before pulling away, her arm falling to rest loosely over Patty's hip. The silence that follows is easy, comfortable. And before either knows it, they're drifting off quickly. Until patty hears Ellen mumble something nearly incoherent, but comprehensible enough.

" _I love you…_ " It's a murmur almost. And when the older woman opens her eyes, Ellen is already breathing evenly, eyes shut and peaceful.

Patty panics for a second. No other action or words have ever been this dangerous between them in the past. As she studies the young woman's features, she slowly becomes less afraid and sleep comfortably overcomes her body. She thinks about returning the confession, but decides there will be a better time. When they're both lucid.

 


End file.
